Starting players Max Fried and Joe Musgrove are out of the Braves-Padres playoff game due to injuries

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Atlanta Braves left-hander Max Fried and San Diego Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove exited the second game of their NL Wild Card Series with injuries on Wednesday night.

Fried, who could become a free agent after the World Series, was finished after two innings in what could be his final start for Atlanta. Two batters into his outing, he was hit in the left hip by a Fernando Tatis Jr. comebacker.

Fried stayed in and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first, but then allowed five runs on six straight hits and two outs in the second.

“It was his hip,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “As the inning progressed, it affected him. The longer he was out there, the worse it got.”

Dylan Lee took the lead off early in the third inning, but the damage was done. Atlanta’s comeback failed and the struggling Braves were eliminated Padres completed a two-game sweep with a 5-4 win.

Musgrove threw two slow curveballs and fell behind 2-1 with two outs in the fourth to Matt Olson and was visited by pitching coach Ruben Niebla. Padres manager Mike Shildt and an athletic trainer joined them, and Musgrove came out.

The team announced that he had strain in his right elbow.

Musgrove said it was “frustrating.” I want to be out there and finish the job. That’s the last thing I want on my first outing of the season, but that’s just the reality. It comes at a bad time, but I will deal with it, find the best possible way to get back and do my best to get back here as quickly as possible.”

Musgrove attended both the on-field celebration and the wild clubhouse party that followed. His status for the remainder of the postseason is unclear, including the best-of-five division series against the rival Dodgers that begins Saturday in Los Angeles.

“If you’re not a pitcher, it’s very hard to explain. I just had a hard time getting full extension and releasing the pitches,” Musgrove said. “There wasn’t a lot of confidence behind it. I had two outs in the inning. I was hoping I could get through the inning and then deal with the problem in between, but I haven’t gotten to that point.”

Musgrove, who grew up in suburban El Cajon, was on the injured list twice this season because of right elbow inflammation, which cost him a total of 63 games. During his second assignment he had to take a break for two and a half months.

“It would be irresponsible to get too involved in this,” Shildt said. “He said he would do everything he could – I didn’t do anything to Joe Musgrove – to get back.

“Something in his elbow just didn’t feel right. Structurally, they think it’s fine, but we’ll get more reviews over time.”

Musgrove threw the first no-hitter in Padres history on April 9, 2021, in his second start with his hometown team after being acquired in an offseason trade with Pittsburgh.

Fried was a first-round draft pick of the Padres in 2012. In December 2014, he was traded to Atlanta in a six-player deal. He made it to the big leagues on August 8, 2017. He started and won the decisive Game 6 of the 2021 World Series against Houston.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB